Melton providing leadership, productivity for Wylie girls basketball
Nothing can stop Emma Melton from being on the basketball court.
Not two ACL tears — in the same knee — and not a year off to fully recover. Now, she is back and better than ever for her senior year, adding leadership and talent to the Lady Bulldogs lineup.
“It means everything. I came into this with a new perspective,” Melton said. “I get to be here, it’s not something I have to do, it’s something I’m privileged enough to do and something I’m grateful to do. It made me excited to come out here and play again for my senior year.”
The injuries
The first ACL tear came her freshman year in the second round of the playoffs. Wylie would end up going to the region final that year, its last in Class 4A. It was also the last season with head coach Kurt Richardson.
So, when Amy Powell took the job all she heard about from assistant coaches Lainey Alcorn and Megan Rausch was how much she was going to love Melton … once she was cleared.
But before Powell’s first season was over Melton, then a sophomore, would tear the same ACL. This time, the injury took place in the second round of district play.
“When she tore that ACL the second time, it’s just hard as a coach to watch a kid, know what they’ve been through and have that happen a second time,” Powell said. “I still remember that moment in the game and that play and talking to the girls afterward.”
The second time around, Melton sat back and decided to do whatever it took to get fully healthy to play again.
“I just knew there was an end point where I wanted to be at,” Melton said. “I told myself, ‘You have fun playing basketball, you really enjoy it.’ It was something I always knew I wanted to do. I was going to make it regardless. It was just a mindset that I was going to succeed to play senior year.”
That meant taking a full year off from basketball.
“I took 13 months off this time, instead of eight,” Melton said. “So, I built back muscle and built back everything. I feel like I’m playing with way more confidence than I’ve ever played and that’s regardless of the knee.
“I’m more confident in what I can do.”
Though she couldn’t play, Powell offered Melton the option to still be a part of the team, whether as a manager or to just be there, because of her leadership and personality.
But Melton is not one to sit on the sidelines.
“I would sit in the stands and was like, ‘There’s no way I’m not going to be out there next year,’” Melton said. “I got a job, so I focused on that. I wasn’t (team) manager, but I tried to make the games I could and realized how much I missed. I love playing this sport.”
Whether it was making the games she could or watching NBA and college games on TV, Melton studied the game to come back better than she was. No one sugarcoated the work it was going to take to come back from a second ACL tear.
No stopping her
Melton was determined to play again.
“Once you have your second one everyone tells you you’re done,” Melton said. “It was mentally more challenging, but I feel like I’m so much stronger, my knee’s stronger, everything’s just better after that happened.
“Obviously, I didn’t want it to happen, but I’m better now. I feel like I’m a better basketball player and learned a lot from it.
“Everybody was very realistic with me and told me it’s going to be longer, it’s going to be harder. Already, I went into it with the correct way to think of it. It was (harder), but it feels way better now than it did.”
Melton also was set to be a varsity member of the Wylie girls soccer team as a freshman, but injuries kept her from ever taking the field. They did not, however, stop her from running track.
In fact, after the second tear, Melton reached the Region I-5A meet in the 400-meter dash. Though she was running on one good leg, she still wanted to compete at the highest level.
“Even after she tore that ACL, she ran track and made it to the regional running the 400 on no ACL,” Powell said. “I was an assistant coach in track, and I remember how disappointed she was at the regional track meet that she didn’t make it to state. I went, ‘Emma. Most of these kids are running on two ACLs and you’re running on one.
“The fact that you’re even at the regional meet is incredible.’ But that’s her mindset, she’s never made any excuses.”
Being able to compete was key to Melton’s mental health. She came into high school with the chance to be a three-sport varsity athlete for four years. Soccer was taken away and two years of basketball were cut short.
So, to get on the track and run was something she wasn’t going to pass up.
“I just tried to make the most of the sports I could play,” Melton said. “My sophomore year of track I was like, ‘Let’s go. I’m ready to run. I don’t care how much my knee hurts. I’m going to at least accomplish something.’”
Having a reason to train and a chance to compete put everything in perspective for Melton. When that gets taken away, there is a new appreciation for those opportunities.
“I’ll never take anything for granted again,” Melton said. “A hard practice, hey, I’m practicing. I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had this year. I’m back, I get to be a leader, we’re winning games. … I’m so grateful to be out there, to be able to do the things I would like to do.”
A natural leader
After two shortened seasons and a year off, Melton had to find her place within the program again.
Powell wanted her to be a leader, but that took a little convincing and a push from the team.
“She’s a true leader, but I think she felt like she couldn’t be because she wasn’t here last year,” Powell said. “Would she be stepping on somebody’s toes having a leadership role? … We voted for captains, the girls voted Makinlee (Bacon) and Emma. That’s when I said, ‘There you go. They’re looking to you for leadership.’”
Melton got an early lesson in leadership her first two years with the Lady Bulldogs. From Lauren Fulenwider and Julia Lovelace when she was a freshman to another strong group of seniors her sophomore year, Melton got an up close look at what it meant to be a leader.
“She got the benefit of watching those groups in front of her,” Powell said. “I didn’t coach the Fulenwider girl, but I’ve heard great things about her, and Mary Lovelace and Abbey Henson and how they worked. She’s been able to be the freshman on young teams that had girls that had incredible work ethics. … She’s had good girls ahead of her that she’s been able to look at and see how they handle things and how they work. She’s carried on that tradition.”
It’s a tradition that means a lot to Melton and everyone who puts on the Wylie girls basketball uniform.
“I haven’t known anything but this program,” Melton said. “Everyone encourages everybody, everybody pushes everybody, everybody wants the best for each other. I think that’s really cool. Coach Powell and all the coaches work so hard to make sure we’re well prepared. She wants to win just as bad as we do.”
Whether it’s a 16-point outburst such as Melton had early in the season against Merkel or a 16-rebound effort in Monday’s win against Plainview, she does things to help her team win.
“We’re a better team when Emma’s on the floor,” Powell said. “… When she’s on the court, we’re a better basketball team.”
Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz.
